Category: Melancholy Thoughts
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Sleep And The Birch Tree Clock
[Our Limelight Hydrangea.] I look at the clock. It’s 4:35 am. I can’t sleep. I begin another chapter in the book I’m reading. I go into the kitchen and eat a cracker. I sip some Tonic Water (it helps my leg cramps). I go back to bed. I can’t sleep. I take a little pill.…
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Yesterday Afternoon And An Afternoon Thirty-Three Years Ago
[The tomb of Joseph and Caroline Damer] Thirty-three years ago I parked a VW Polo in a small space a short distance from the village of Milton Abbas. I was an exchange teacher at a school in Dorset, England. A teacher friend told me that I must visit an Abbey near Milton Abbas. I was…
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Her Husband Is Poorly: A First Walk In Yorkshire
[Grassington, Yorkshire.] We’re staying in Grassington, Yorkshire. I saw somewhere it was called the “Swiss Alps of England”. I can get the sense of that. No snow-capped peaks and Matterhorns, but the Dales are pure and English and brimming with grand vistas. There are enough walking paths to satisfy the Swiss Alpine Club, the Sierra…
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An American In Brussels
Trust me. I can say a few words about how this grey-haired man is exhausted from what is only the early days of his European Tour. I was there, every minute…waiting for the train in Bruges and sitting in the hot humid air of Brussels Midi station wondering whether he should jump into a taxi…
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Bruges Makes Me Sad
[Mariam and her husband after dinner at the Market Square.] Occasionally, during your life you arrive at a destination that forces you to hold your breath, for too long, and then exhale with an audible gasp. Your heart can hold off on a beat and then give you an extra pump. And a part of…
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People Watching: Our Final Night In Paris
If you are a frequent reader of my posts, you will probably have noticed that I like to make up stories about people and things I don’t know anything about. The pleasure, for me as a blogger, is that I’m not bound in by only what I read or hear. The type of posts I…
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The “Popcorn” Man
[The Street Vender. Photo is mine.] At first I thought he was selling a popcorn necklace. He would walk up and down the rows of diners, whose tables (here in Paris) always face the streets. And he would peddle his “popcorn” necklaces to those at the tables that were closest to the sidewalk. Yes, I…
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One Son
[Brian. April 24, 2018.] No, the title of this post is not something I stole from a menu from one of the many Korean eateries on W. 35th Street. And, if you look at the photo above…(I always use a lead-in graphic for my posts), I can tell you certain things: It’s a profile of…
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Late Night Thoughts On Milkweed Pods
[Milkweed seed pod. Photo source: Me] I’m not a collector, really. I do have quite a few paperclips but I wouldn’t call it a collection. My fondness for fountain pens and Moleskin notebooks is legendary, but I practice self-control…most of the time. My grandmother’s barn was filled with a mountain of old tires, but they…
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Reading Lamp
[The Ideal Reading Lamp. Photo source: Me.] Other than a wind storm that blew in a window in our screened-in porch, downed branches and howled like a demon on Bald Mountain, there really isn’t very much to write about these days. I should note that the aforementioned window has not been removed, for cleaning or…
